


A Messy Night

by Reader010



Series: A Past that Doesn't Want To Leave [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Bar, Bumblebee - Freeform, Drunk Night, F/F, F/M, White Rose - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-17
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-02-13 10:31:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2147385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reader010/pseuds/Reader010
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the end of their first year at Beacon, Teams RWBY and JNPR decide to spend one night at Junior's Bar and Motel to celebrate. Yet when the Blake wakes up the next day, with absolutely no memory of the previous night and with a partner who's certainly acting... abnormal, it's time to get to the bottom of what happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story so here I go! I plan on updating this regularly so stay tuned!

"You sure about this?" Yang only rolled her eyes in amusement, hearing the same question asked to her once again,

"For the hundredth time Blake, it'll be fine," Yang reassured her partner. "Junior's a buddy of mine, we'll all have a good time tonight!" Yang looked at the rest of the group, all walking behind her.

Accompanying Yang was both the entireity of Teams RWBY and JNPR. The two teams were heading out to Junior's Bar in Vale in order to celebrate the end to their first year at Beacon. Of course, the whole thing had been Yang's idea, and it had been quite the task to convince everyone to get on board with the idea-

"Yang!" The blonde snapped out of her thoughts at a certain Ice Queen's voice. "Are you even listening to me?"

 _Nope, not even in the slightest._ "...yeah?"

"Oh, you were?" Weiss folded her arms. "What was I saying then?"

"Obviously you were just praising me for coming up with such a brilliant idea."

"Huh, what a surprise." Weiss said in a way that showed that this wasn't any surprise at all. "I said I'm not sure you blowing up his bar qualifies you two as buddies."

"It'll be fine Ice Queen, I know _exactly_ what I'm doing." Yang replied, as confident as ever. "Everything will be perfectly fine."

"Uh-huh." Weiss answered in a tone that made it clear that she did not think everything would be alright.

"Besides," Yang began. "Too late to turn back now. We're here!"

"Not a moment to soon, either." Blake noted, acknowledging the sun setting over the horizon.

Both teams stopped to view the structure in front of them. It wasn't the most... classy place. But it wasn't too bad of a place either. It definitely met Weiss's (admittedly) low expectations for any bar where Yang frequented. As the group stood and stared, alarms and yelling began to sound out from the inside of the bar.

"Uh... Yang?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah sis?"

"Why did they just close the doors on us?"

Yang looked and saw that her sister was right. "It's a private joke." Yang said, though she wasn't convincing anyone. Except Jaune, of course.

"Ohh... So, uh, how do we get in?" Jaune awkwardly asked. Ruby sighed. A whole year and he still managed to be so completely awkward. Before Pyrrha could explain what was really going on to her leader, Yang answered, cocking Ember Celica.

"Like this."

"Oh." Jaune realized what was going on.

Yang walked up to the tightly sealed door.

"Open up! You know I could just as easily break this thing down, so how about you save yourself the Lien and just let us is."

The door opened a tiny crack. "Identify yourselves!" A squeaky high pitched and scared voice squawked. The only answer the poor security guard got was Yang wedging her hand into the opening and slamming the door open.

"Yang maybe we should just leave." Ruby said.

"Nonsense!" Yang began, flashing her sister a casual smile before she turned and walked into the bar, leaving her group no choice but to follow.

"Hey Junior!" She yelled at the top of her lungs once entering the bar. "This any way to treat a customer?"

After a moment passed with  mumbled curses being overheard, a man approached the teams.

"Blondie! What are you doing here?" Junior demanded.

"Oh calm down Junior, we're here for a drink!" Yang said in a loose and let back manner. "See? I even brought friends!" Yang motioned to the seven other hunters and huntresses in training she had brought along- all of which were also armed with their weapons.

"Give me one reason why that would calm me down."

"We're staying the night in the motel too." Yang added on.

"That also doesn't make me feel any better."

Yang sighed, as if she expected as much. "We have money."

The man seemed to cave at the mere mention of payment. "Fine... but try not to blow up my bar this time."

"Oh you're no fun," Yang said. "If I wanted to not do that, I would have gone to any of the other bars in the city." She teased before walking back to her friends as the music resumed and people began to turn their attention away from the scene she had created.

"Alright! In order to cut down on costs, we're going to split rooms." Weiss said. "Partners okay?"

"Sure." Yang replied. Back at Beacon, you did almost everything with your partner. Training, classes- it only made sense that the tradition would continue now.

"Ren, you and your girlfriend try not to have  _too_ much fun." Yang teased the quietest member of Team JNPR. "Where is Nora by the way?"

"Bar," Ren said, as if that one word explained everything.

After that the eight students (seven, as Nora was already one step ahead of everyone) all split up to get drinks and chat.

Yang trailed behind her partner to the one of the bars in the room.

"Hey Yang?" Blake asked.

"Yeah?"

"I kind of expected you and Ruby to share a room. You being sisters in all... Don't you find it a bit weird that Weiss recommended partners?"

 _No I was to busy thinking about sharing a bed with my crush for the past year._ Nope. Definitely not saying that. 

Yang had had a crush on her partner since almost the beginning of the second semester, but she wasn't stupid. She saw the way Blake looked at Sun. She had absolutely no chance. So might as well not get any ideas...

"Ehh, now that you mention it..." Yang hadn't actually thought of that.

Blake turned around to look at Yang. "Are you alright?"

Yang looked at anything but her eyes. "Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine..."

"You sure, by now you'd be making a crack about a relationship between Weiss and Ruby."

"What? Me? Well I never!"

Blake raised an eyebrow in her signature Belladonna questioning look. _She looks s_ _o hot whenever she gives me that look._

_Stop stop stop stop._

"We'll it is not like I have anything wrong with teammates dating..." Yang wished she could punch herself in the face.

_Smooth. Really smooth Xiao Long._

"...Okay? I really don't know how to answer that..." Blake said, a little confused, not expecting that answer.

"Let's just... get a drink," _Or a dozen._ Yang walked over to the bar. 

This was going to be a long night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang watches as the night unfolds.

Yang sat down at the closest stool, drink in hand. Within seconds she drained her drink. The bartender reached to refill it but the blonde brawler stopped him. "No thanks." The bartender shrugged and moved to another costumer. 

 _I should probably be sober for tonight._ She thought, knowing she couldn't be getting drunk tonight, as much as she may have wanted to.

The time seemed to pass by fast, with more and more patrons coming and leaving the establishment as they pleased. Quite a bit of time passed before Yang looked up from thoughts.

It only took a few seconds of looking before Yang spotted someone she recognized. It was Nora. Yang spotted the hyper girl drinking a shot before running out to the dance floor. Several paces behind her was a slightly less enthusiastic Ren trying to keep up with the energetic ball of life that was his girlfriend. Yet he didn't too upset actually... he always seemed strangely okay with putting up with Nora's usual antics.

 _I'll never understand those two._ Yang thought to herself, amused.

A loud slam drew Yang's attention to the the bar, where another member of Team JNPR sat. Pyrrha... and she didn't look too well. A stack of empty shot glasses stood before her, and it took no detective work on Yang's part to figure out she was completely shitfaced.

Poor Pyrrha. Unlike the other partnership of Team JNPR, Pyrrha and Jaune  _still_ hadn't gotten together. And it wasn't like Pyrrha wasn't trying. It was just... well...

Jaune couldn't take a hint if it smacked him in the face with a truck.

Speaking of Jaune, Yang spotted him and Blake talking at the other side of the room. _What could they be talking about?_ The blonde wondered, after all, Blake barely even talked with her own team.

 _Oh._ Blake pointed at the drunk red head of Team JNPR...  _They're talking about her._

 _Where was Ruby?_ The thought crossed Yang's mind. She hadn't seen her sister since the start of the night.

As Yang got up to search for her sister she saw Jaune sit down next to the very drunk Pyrrha.

Good luck with that Jaune. Yang thought to herself as she stared at the pair. Without meaning too, she accidentally bumped into someone. That someone being the one and only crush of her dreams.

"So..." Blake said, smirking as if she was amused by something. "Whatcha been up to? I haven't seen you all night."

Yang narrowed her eyes at the Faunus. "Are you drunk?" She asked, completely serious.

Blake only rolled her eyes before answering. "No. I've only had a bit to drink..."

"Well then, maybe we should give you something to drink more often." 

"Why?" Blake asked, confused.

"Because you can actually hold a conversation." Yang teased, before realizing it was true. This was easily the longest conversation she had had with Blake in quite a while. _That wasn't completely one sided._ Yang added.

"Oh that's not funny." Blake said before frowning.

"I wasn't making a joke," Yang replied. "It seems Miss Belladonna is breaking out of her shell."

Blake shook her head, a little flustered. "Don't... call me that." 

"Alright, alright," Yang decided to stop teasing her. Though she was actually quite excited the Blake was getting comfortable enough with them- with her- to relax and drink a bit. "Hey, have you seen Ruby?"

"No, not since we got here." Blake answered.

"Alright, I'm gonna see if I can find her anywhere." 

"You do that."

Yang and Blake seperated and Yang began the search for her sister all over again. Turns out, she didn't have to look to far. Directly on the middle of the dance floor was Ruby with- Weiss?

_Huh. Maybe Blake was right..._

She watched as two walked over to their drinks. Yang saw that Weiss had a fancy frozen We-ice drink. Weiss had ordered Ruby something too, a non-alcoholic drink. Yang reminded herself that Ruby was two years younger of them at 15, and since the drinking age of Vale is 16, she was a minor.

At least if Weiss and Ruby are dating, Weiss wasn't doing anything that required serious big-sister threatening. Yang made her way back to her seat, waiting for the night to continue on.

After everyone but Yang had a few more drinks and another hour passed, things started to get out of hand. The contents from the many shot glasses that Pyrrha had been collecting throughout the night, finally caught up to her, and she slipped from her stool while attempting to get up. Fortunately Jaune, had been sitting next to her even since he found her was there to catch her... And unfortunately for Pyrrha, maybe Jaune had also had too much to drink, as he ended up falling along with Pyrrha.

Ah well. At least he gave her a nice landing. Yang snickered at the two from her seat.

"Get a room!" Someone shouted from the crowd. Yang instantly burst out laughing again, seeing Pyrrha lying on top of a red faced Jaune, in no rush to get up.

"Here Jaune," Yang called throwing him the keys to his room and then watching them hit him square in his face. Yang watched as Jaune led Pyrrha to their room by having the girl lean on him.

Yang could only think of the number of possibilities that those two could have tonight. Unfortunately for Jaune, a large majority of them involved a long night and much puking. 

_Been there, done that- on three separate occasions._

It wasn't long before Weiss and Ruby appeared in front of Yang asking for their keys.

"No offense, but I kinda expected you to be completely out by now." Weiss said, slightly swaying back and forth.

"No offense, but unlike you, I can hold my alcohol." Yang teased back, giving the girl a slight push on the shoulder. As if to prove her point, Ruby ended up saving Weiss from toppling over, with the drunk Weiss lacking any type of balancing skill while drunk. "Here you go."

Yang handed the key to Weiss but didn't let go, instead she leaned over to her left ear and whispered.

"No funny business with my sister. Hate to have to kill you before you met our dad." Yang said, and she was only half kidding. However, she couldn't help but burst out laughing at the genuine fear on Weiss's face.

Weiss stormed out with Ruby as soon as possible but failed to hide her flustered face and reddened checks.

_Guess Blake was right about the two of them._

Yang decided to have some fun and went to dance on the dance floor. She got stares, and some poor flirts, but hey, it was all part of the fun, wasn't it?

After almost an hour dancing, Yang spotted Blake drinking a glass of wine at a secluded table in a corner. And decided to see how she was doing.

As Yang began to walk over to her Nora ran in front and she was even more energetic than usual. Which is very weird because alcohol isn't supposed to do that.

"Hi Yang! I haven't seen you all night! I think I'm gonna get another drink!" Nora yelled as she ran past Yang.

"...What..." Yang began.

"Dammit Nora!" Ren yelled. "You broke Yang. Now what will we do?"

"What's wrong with her?!" Yang asked.

"Alcohol sort of has a reverse affect on Nora." Ren explained. "Don't ask."

"I won't" Yang said, wanting no part in this literally impossible feat of nature. "Here," Yang said handing him his keys. "Get Nora to her room before she breaks anything else." A shatter is heard in the background. "Besides that."

"Yes Sergeant Yang Ma'am!" Ren shouted, clarifying that yes, alcohol did have the same effect on Ren as on regular people.

"Don't patronize me!" Yang shouted.

"Okay!" Ren said before speeding off.

"I like you two better when you are sober." Yang muttered before walking back toward Blake.

"Hey Yan-" Blake began to say but failed and spilled her wine glass. She frowned at the purple pool of liquid on the table, as if unaware of how it got there. it was probably safe to assume that in the amount of time that Yang had last seen Blake, she had gone from tipsy to drunk. Not Pyrrha drunk, but pretty drunk.

"I think you need to get back to the room." Yang said. _Damn I hate being the responsible one._

"What... No- no, I'm fine." Blake managed to slur together.

 _Damn fine._ Yang thought before immediately scolding herself.  _Yang now is not the time to try and flirt with your crush she's drunk and- and- and..._

 _And she can't remember what happens tonight..._ Yang quickly dismissed the thought. Only trouble would come down that route.

"No, we need to get you into the room," Yang told her.

"You know- _*hiccup*_ -you know what? I think- that that YOU need to go back to the room." Blake pointed her finger at Yang but in doing so, she knocked over what remained of her wine. She barely seemed to notice. "Come on.  _*hiccup*_ I'll- I'll get you back to the room." Blake told Yang. The black haired girl attempted to stand but utterly failed at the task, leaving Yang to grab her before she fell.

"Come on. We're going to the room..." Yang said before moving towards the hall their room was in.

"Okay," Blake said, attempting to walk with Yang but barely able to keep her feet under her.

 _Thank god I stayed sober tonight._ Yang thought.  _There'd be no way I could get her back to the room if both of us were as drunk as she was. Though, I would never of thought the Blake would get drunk here, tonight. Then again, I didn't expect the same thing from Pyrrha. Or Ren and Nora. Okay yeah, I expected Nora but still, it's good that everyone having fun._

Yang pushed open the door to the hallway, leading Blake through. Blake stopped and stared at Yang before bursting out giggling.

"What's so funny?" Yang asked, amused with the drunk girl before her. They were real close to the room now. just a few more down the hall.

"Don't worry yourself gorgeous..." Blake quietly said, still giggling. 

_Did Blake just flirt with me? You really are testing my limits..._

"I should say the same to you..." Yang said. _Usually I'm a lot better at flirting._ The thought popped into Yang's head before she could stop it.

"..." _Damnit Blake say something! I messed up... didn't I?_ Yang could feel her throat drying up.

"..You think I'm gorgreous?" Yang paused as she opened the door.

Yang grabbed Blake's hand and led her into the room. "Let this answer your question."

 _There's no going back now._ Another thought drifted into Yang's head, reminding her that this was her idea.

_Oh boy._

_I'm so fucked if she ever finds out._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Now focusing more on Blake.)  
> When Blake wakes up with one major headache, no memory of last night, and an odd acting Yang, she asks herself,  
> What the fuck happened last night?

One of the worst things about getting the drunk? The day after.

The first thing Blake woke up to was a pounding headache.

"Ugh..."  _My head._ Blake shifted in the bed, finding her head buried face first in her pillow.

_What... what happened last night?_

Blake thought to herself realizing she had absolutely no clue. _Think Blake... I remember... I remember. What do I remember?  
_

_I definitely remember talking to... Jaune... why was I talking to Jaune? Something about Pyrrha and shots..._

_I remember... buying a few glasses of wine from a bartender, and... and what?!_ It was soon clear that that was all Blake remembered from last night.

As Blake pushed herself up, a rush of pain went through her head. Blake immediately dropped herself back onto the bed and clutched her head.  _Never... going to get drunk again._ Blake vowed taking a moment to calm the pain in her head.

Blake rolled over in the bed, to find it completely empty. She took things a step at a time, and she began to examine the room she was in. Her bed was next to a balcony. A quick look through the glass sliding door showed that it was still dark out. It must've been maybe five or six in the morning. There was a door to the hallway, an old tv, a bed table, another bed and bed table combo, a-

Blake was interrupted from her thoughts as she heard a noise from the bathroom.

By instinct she attempted to grab Gambol Shroud of her back... Only to find it not there. Quickly she searched the room for it, only to find it all the way across the room... Past the bathroom door. Blake began thinking of an escape plan, but was interrupted by-

"Morning!" The ever-so cheerful voice of Yang filled the room. "Finally up I see!" 

 _Oh yeah._ Blake thought slightly embarrassed that she had forgotten.  _It's just Yang. We split rooms._

"Yeah," Blake mindlessly answered. Another thought crossed Blake's mind... maybe just maybe...

"Hey Yang." Blake tried to get her blonde haired partner's attention.

"Uh-huh." Came her muffled response from the bathroom.

"Do you remember what happened last night?"

"..." Yang hesitated.  _Probably to think._ Blake reasoned. "Not really, why?"

"Just wondering... Must have been a crazy night." Blake thought aloud, not expecting an answer. _It was a long shot anyways. Yang probably had more to drink than I did._

"Yeah it probably was!" Yang quickly replied. A nervous laugh came from the bathroom.

 _She's acting... odd..._ Blake thought to herself, then shrugged it off. _I must just not be able to think straight. Cursed booze._

Blake attempted to ask Yang another question.

"So you don't you want to know what happened last night? I mean aren't you the least bit curious?" Blake stated, as if it were obvious.

"I already know all I need to know." Yang replied, the sound of rushing water coming from the bathroom sink. "We all had a good time and probably a bit too much to drink. isn't that enough?"

 _No, she's definitely acting odd._ Blake thought. She looked across the room again, and her eyes settled on her partner's bed. It was surprisingly well made, almost as if she hadn't even slept in it...

"Yeah, sure." Blake answered, sitting up at the edge of her bed.

"Don't worry about it Blake." Yang laughed. "Thinking too much about it isn't going to be good for you. If you're really that concerned about it, just ask the others. maybe they'll know." 

Blake was doubtful of that. Besides her encounter with Jaune and Yang, she couldn't remember talking with anybody else for the entirety of the night.

She would bet that Jaune would be less then helpful to talk to, and she had already talked to Yang, and that ended up with nothing.

Still... Something was off about the blonde brawler... But what?

Suddenly an idea popped into Blake's head. A way to figure out exactly what had happened. "I'm going to find out." Blake declared getting out of bed.

"How do you plan to do that?" Yang asked poking her head from out the bathroom.

"Huh?" Blake asked, not having been paying attention to her partner as she strapped on her boots.

"How are you gonna find out what happened last night?" Yang asked in total seriousness. _This isn't like her at all. What's wrong with her?_

_What's she hiding?_

Blake walked to the hallway door before opening it. She glanced down the hallway where her smirk met a blinking red light. "With those." Blake answered, even though she was aware Yang had no clue what she was talking about.

"And those are...?" Yang asked, peeking out the door behind Blake.

"Oh." Yang saw what Blake was looking at.

"Where there's cameras," Blake said, staring at the lens. "There's footage."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment! Since this is my first fanfic I would love some feedback on what I could be doing better!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake and Yang both carry out two different tasks.

"What makes you think that Junior's just going to give it to you?" Yang asked as Blake finished washing her face.

"What makes you think I'm going to ask him?" Blake replied, smiling. "Sometimes I think you forget what I did before I began training as a huntress."

"And what was that, a cat burglar?" Yang asked through an amused smile. 

"Confound it Yang." Blake shook her head. "I'm going to go steal some footage, you want to help?"

"Nah, I'm tired. I didn't sleep to well last night." Yang said, plopping herself onto her undisturbed bed. _Maybe that's what was wrong,_ Blake realized. _She's only acting odd because she was drunk and didn't get any sleep. I guess that's fair._

"You'll be missing out." Blake teased. "You know how much you love getting in trouble."

Yang tapped her finger to her chin, as if thinking about it. "That is true...  _And_ it could also piss of Junior which would be fun..." The blonde rolled on her side to face Blake. "But all I want is to get some sleep, so I'll pass."

"Alright, see you later." Blake replied opening the door.

"Have fun breaking the law!"

"Sure will." The door shut behind her and Yang listened to the Faunus walk down the hall. Once Yang was sure she was gone, she sprung up off the bed, panicking.

 _She can not find out what happened last night._ That much Yang was sure of. She absolutely could not let that happen.

In her panicked state, her eyes landed on two familiar yellow objects sitting by the side of her bed.

_I'll fix this. Everything will be fine._

Yang picked up Ember Celica.

_Blake will **not** find out what happened last night._

She had a friend to visit.

* * *

Blake walked back down the halls to the bar, finding it after a little searching.

_Alright step one, find the security room..._

The bar was empty- no surprise there- nobody's going to be drinking at six in the morning.

The bar and motel setup was structured almost as if it was two separate buildings. The two buildings were only connected through the hallway she had come from. So that meant that the security room was back in the maze of hallways and floors behind her.

Blake pushed the door behind open and began to slip back through the doorway when her eyes caught on the dance floor. Suddenly the head pains surged back. Except this time, rather than just bringing her the feeling of wanting to die, this time it also brought back a flash of memory.

_Ruby and Weiss were together on the dance floor, and the two looked at each other with a happy expression on their face. Weiss said something and Ruby laughed, then the two of them leaned close and..._

Oh... poor Yang, she had no idea... that the two of them were-

Sudden realization overcame Blake. The real reason Yang was acting odd, couldn't sleep, and wouldn't talk about last night.

She must have been devastated that even her own sister wouldn't tell her about her relationship with Weiss!

Coming back to the present, Blake slipped back into the hallway letting the door close behind her. She moved back down the hallway searching for a security room.

Okay... That solves what happened to the other three members of her team, but what about her? She probably secluded herself from everyone else, that much was sure... And in the end somehow convinced a drunk, devastated Yang to come back to the room with her.

That made sense... but... something was still bugging her. She felt like she was missing something big. Like it was stuck in the back of her mind. Snagged there.

 _Something happened._ Blake was sure of it. She could  **feel** it.

_But what?_

* * *

 With Ember Celica on both her wrists, Yang took a right out of the room, down the hallway, another right and then a left, arriving at the elevator. She had commited this place to memory, because of the many times she had come her for information, a drink, or simply to blow the place up.

She had to make this quick. She had to do this before Blake got to the security room. Once the blonde entered the elevator she pressed the button for the top floor. She knew that Junior and his two assistants would be in the penthouse.

* * *

 The first floor was a bust. All there was was rooms. A majority of which were empty. Not that that surprised Blake. Not many people probably stayed at such a sketchy motel.

She made her way back to the elevator. The cat Faunus didn't know why she felt like she needed to rush. But she knew not to question her gut.

Something was about to happen.

_Second floor..._

* * *

Yang knocked three times. Just three times; casual, not panicked. Like she wasn't worried that her partner find the footage and hate her forever.

She really couldn't shake the feeling that she was running out of time.

The one in the red dress answered the door. Before she could say anything to Yang, Yang pushed her way into the room, right past her.

"Melanie what's with this girl?" The sister with the red dress asked.

"I don't know Mi-" The white dressed sister started.

 

"Where's Junior?" Yang asked, cutting her off.

"As if you need to know-" 'Militia' snobbishly replied. Yang glared at her with bright red eyes.

" **Where.** " She demanded.

"If you think we are gonna tell yo-" Yang stepped forward and knocked her with a punch to the head.

"Wrong answer." Yang said, eyes ablaze. The remaining one, Melanie, stepped forward to challenge Yang- which Yang would have found amusing yet she was sort of in a rush.

"Were you looking for me, Blondie?" A voice asked from behind Yang. Yang quickly turned to face him.  "Don't think of trying to run Blonde, we've surrounded this room with all of our guards." As if to prove his statement, the door burst open and Junior's henchmen filed into the room.

Yang's eyes widened at Junior's statement. Junior, being the idiot he was, mistook Yang's expression for fear.

"All. You have all of the guards outside."

"That's right Blondie. So I recommend you put down those gauntlets-"

"You fucking idiot." Yang said, barely a whisper. The area around her began to burn red hot.

"What do you mean?" Junior asked confused, and a bit scared. He'd seen first hand what an angry Yang meant. For him, it meant getting tossed out a second story window and spending a month in the hospital. Getting thrown off the penthouse floor out the window would not be any better.

"Have your men all moved to the sercurity room. It is about to be broken into." Yang said, attempting to melt her anger away.

Junior looked at Yang, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because maybe it's in my best interest too."

Juniors henchmen looked at him, "Well?" Junior asked. "You heard the lady- go!" Junior looked at the other sister, who was trying to wake her unconscious sibling. "You too."

Melanie shot Yang a glare as she left the room.

As soon as Junior made sure they were out of earshot he said to Yang. "Yeah that's not going to work. If it's one of your friends who's about to break into the room, all the nameless henchmen in the world couldn't stop them."

Yang looked at the businessman. "No. Shit."

"Then why'd you want it done," Junior said tensing himself.

"So that you'd have some time to manually deleted the files of last nights surveillance cameras." Yang said.

"But I need to be in the security room to delete the files." Junior whined only to be shut up by Yang.

"No, you don't. I know you have a terminal with access to all camera footage in this very room." Yang said, not even caring to explain how she knew.

"You're good." Junior replied, in awe.

"Get moving."

* * *

 

Blake cleared three more floors with no interruptions or results. The only thing even mildly interesting that she found was an outdated gym on the third floor. Just as she was about to enter the elevator to get to the next floor, she heard a mob of people stampede down the stairway down the stairway beside the elevator. Curious, Blake opened the door to the stairway. A few flights before her were a mob of henchman followed by a girl in a white dress.

 _The basement._ Blake felt stupid for not realizing it. The one place closed off to the public. Of course the security room would be there.

 _This hangover must be affecting my reasoning._ Blake cursed herself for being so stupid. 

Though, this all just begged another question in Blake's mind. Why was what looked to be the entirety of Junior's henchmen rushing to guard the security room?

Maybe Blake's suspicions were correct. Something really did happen last night. But this also meant there was someone who did not want her to find out what that something was.

Blake grabbed Gambol Shroud from her back. Yet, since when would a few henchmen stop her?


	5. Chapter 5

"What's going on?"

Junior sighed, even after all their recent encounters, enemies or not, Blondie had never been so impatiatent. Which led him to wonder. What had happened to her the night before to leave her so antsy?

A loud thud sounded next to Junior. "I said, what's happening?!" Yang shouted once again.

 _Calm down._ Junior thought to himself before answering. "I am trying to not only find the files of last night security, but also delete any links to them in this computer and the one in the security room."

"Oh." The blonde brawler backed off, giving Junior space to work.

Junior nearly sighed, but he caught himself.

* * *

 

Blake's first mistake was rushing, which caused her to be clumsy.

Blake was _**never**_ clumsy. Or at least, not hungover Blake was.

As Blake slid open the basement door just a crack, she peered in the room. Once she thought the cost was clear, she slipped into the room.

Blake positioned herself in a doorway so the guards down the hall couldn't see her.

As she aimed her gun she prepared to shot and-

_*CLANK*_

Blake swore to herself as she remembered she forgot about closing the door, and instead it made a loud noise that filled the room and every henchmen in the hall was aware they had an intruder.

Blake was in awe. Her stealth failed. _Her stealth never failed._

What was wrong with her? 

Well. 

Time to fight.

Blake shot first.

* * *

 

_Gunshots._

That's the thing about gunshots. They're _loud._ So they left Yang with a good idea as to how Blake was progressing.

"Hurry up!" Yang shouted again. "She's almost there!"

"I can tell..." Junior said, well aware that the room was getting warmer. "Just a few more minutes..."

"We don't have a few more minutes!" Yang yelled.

"I'm trying, I'm trying." Junior reassured her.

"Try harder!" Junior rolled his eyes, annoyed.

* * *

 

At least Blake could still fight.

Gunfire soon filled the room, but that was hardly a problem. These henchmen weren't huntresses in training at the most respected academy in Vale. They were just hired guns, and bad ones at that.

Honestly? It was over before it began.

The battered henchmen lied either unconscious or moaning on the ground.

Blake looked herself over.

_Not a scratch on her._

Blake returned Gambol Shroud to katana mode and sheathed.

Cautiously she stepped over the piles of bodies and pushed the security room door open.

She barely had time to dodge the girl.

The girl in the white dress she had seen on the stairwell kicked at her as the door opened. Blake dodged, but didn't have enough time to draw her sword before the next attack.

The girl attack with a left kick and then a right one, but then hesitated.

It was a hesitation Blake had seen a lot before. At Beacon, in combat training, students would go one on one against each other. Most students were used to working together with their partners, so the hesitation was usually one of uncertainty, the attacker being unsure what to do next, as this would typically be the part where a partner took over in combat to help.

 _So she's used to working with a partner._ Blake realized, _that should leave her quite open, however brief the hesitation_. She just barely was able to draw Gambol Shroud as the next attack hit her in the shin, sending her back about five feet.

 _Those heels are more powerful than I realized... They're probably dust infused._ Blake observed, before forcing herself to focus.

The girl ran at Blake and jumped in the air, swirling, landing two kicks on a shadow clone 

"What the-" Melanie said before Blake grabbed her from behind and shoved her head into the wall, knocking her unconscious.

Blake looked at her work and made her way for the door.

* * *

 

"There, done!" Junior exclaimed sitting back in his chair. Yang visibly relaxed before catching herself.

"All info of last night is gone off both computers?" Yang asked, to be sure.

"Yep." Junior said, technically not lying.

"You're absolutely sure?" 

"Cool it Blondie. I thought you were supposed to be the laid back one." Yang glared at him. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Thanks. I guess this means I owe you one." Yang replied, coolly.

"You bet! How about you pay me back for all the damage you did to my-" The slamming sound of the door interrupted him. When Junior turned around, the blonde was gone.

* * *

Blake entered the security room by running. She was excited. She was so close to finally seeing what had happened.

Blake sat down at the computer, which was conveniently already logged in. Lying in plain sight on the desktop was the file marked SC FOOTAGE.

Inside there were folder the security footage for everyday in the past 3 years. 

She scrolled past a seemingly endless amount of files until she got to the most recent one.

Yesterday's footage- was nowhere to be found. It was gone. As if someone had completely wiped it all.

First she had to fight every single guard in the building, now this?

 _What the fuck happened last night to cause this?_ Blake nearly yelled aloud. The mild curiosity that had put her on this quest was now replaced with a full fledged suspicion.

_Who would go this for stop me from seeing some footage?_

* * *

 

Junior sighed in relief once he was sure she was gone. The bar owner reached down to the computer and pulled out a small storage drive.  _Good thing I had this handy._  When he told Blondie he was deleting files off both computers, that was the truth, or at least, a part of it.

He also took it upon himself to transfer the same files he was deleting into the USB. If only to sedate his own curiosity. He plugged his USB in his scroll and began to fast forward through the footage.

Junior watched in awe as the footage played before him, switching cameras to follow the Blondie.

He saw everything that Yang didn't want seen.

But the real question was, what now? He had the opportunity for some major sabotage here. He could finally pay Blondie back for all the times she embarrassed him.

Junior smiled, knowing exactly what he was going to do. Quickly he pulled the drive from his scroll and grabbed a stack of useless paperwork.

_Oh Blondie was so going to suffer for this._

* * *

Blake was depressed.

All of that work, for nothing, not even a lead.

_Nothing._

Blake felt like making a fist sized hole in the monitor, but thought better of it.

 _I'm not Yang._ Blake reasoned. Instead, she cut the monitor clean in half.

Blake got up and walked out of the room.

She needed a drink.


	6. Chapter 6

Blake reached the bar in record time. Sitting down, she looked at the bartender. "Surprise me. Anything strong."

The bartender looked up from cleaning some glasses in shock at the customer. "It's seven in the morning."

"So?"

"Not many people drink this early." The bartender commented.

Blake shot him a glare. "Your point?"

"I'm going to guess you had a bad morning." He commented, not expecting an answer. Quickly he made a drink for Blake, and she quickly downed it, not caring to taste it. THe bartender left her alone, abandoning Blake to her thoughts.

 _Alright,_ Blake began her reasoning. _Someone doesn't want me to find out what happened last night... That someone probably did something bad last night and didn't want her to find out..._

Her first thoughts were White Fang, but she quickly discarded that theory. _Why would they care about what happened one night at a small bar and motel, even more, one that welcomed Faunus? But..._ _But... it could be him..._

Not liking where her thoughts headed, she searched for something else to focus on something like...

_Yang._

* * *

Yang fished out her key to the room and rehearsed her excuse for leaving in her mind.

As she pushed open the door she began talking, "Hey Blake I was at the-"

She looked around the room it was... empty.

 _Blake probably needed time to think._ Yang shrugged before decided to take a shower. As she grabbed a towel off the rack, the thought struck her again.  _Blake probably needed time to think._

Yang took a few seconds to calm down, letting her emotions dull themselves. _There's no way she could figure out what happened last night, she didn't have enough information._ Yang decided before heading for a shower.  _She was drunk. She had no idea what I did._

* * *

 

_She was acting oddly this morning, at first I thought it was from the shock of her own sister dating a girl and not telling her but now... I'm not so sure. Something wasn't right..._

"Hey ya Blake!"

Blake nearly fell off of her chair. _Speak of the devil._ Swirling around she meet eyes with Ruby. "Can I help you Ruby?"

"Ya know, most people just say hello." Ruby said, pretending to look hurt. It didn't work.

"Sorry I was... thinking." Blake replied. "Where's Ice Queen?"

"Her name's-" Ruby began but was stopped by the lady behind her.

"Right here," Weiss said strutting up behind Ruby. As Ruby and her began to sit down they pretended that nothing was different, but Blake didn't miss the warm eye-contact between the two.

Blake watched as the two ordered drinks. Weiss getting some cocktail and Ruby getting a soda.

"Isn't it a little early to start drinking?" Blake asked Weiss.

"As if you're one to talk." Weiss said pointedly looking at Blake's empty glass.

"Good point." Blake answered as the bartender gave them their drinks.

"Besides, we were both woken up to the shot of gunshots." Weiss answered, shooting at not so subtle look at Blake.

"At first, we thought it was Yang." Ruby said. "So we came back to the bar. Yet sense there doesn't appear to be any severe destruction of property..."

"...Maybe someone else is responsible for that?" Weiss asked, looking directly at the weapon on Blake's back.

Blake smiled before leaning back. "Guess I've been caught."

"Hmph." Weiss replied before taking a drink. Beside her, Ruby sat constantly drinking from her soda. "I'm not even going to ask what that was about."

The group sat in silence for a little while. So Blake decided to do a little bit of teasing, something she had picked up from seeing her partner do it so many times before. "So... how long is it that you two been going out?" Blake said with a small devilish smirk forming on her lips.

Ruby had a spit take. Before coughing on her soda.

Weiss quickly blushed, something that was especially evident on her pale white skin. Choking on her own drink, she attempted to answer, "What do you mean?"

Blake smiled and looking Weiss directly in the eye answered, "I think you know exactly what I mean."

Weiss sighed, defeated. Behind her Ruby was just as flustered. "It's that obvious is it?" She asked, distraught.

"Oh yeah." Blake answered, full on smirking now. "Especially seeing the two of you on the dance floor. I hope you two had fun sharing a room together." Ruby buried her head into the bar, as if trying to hide from the embarrassment. "Won't Yang be upset about you not telling her?" Blake asked Ruby, perhaps she could find another way to check her theory.

Her flustered leader pulled her head out of arms. "Maybe a little. But it should be fine, Yang knows that I can take care of myself."

"Okay." Blake said cursing in her head. Her one other theory was wrong.

"Uh... Ruby... about that..." Weiss turned red once more as if she was remembering something. "I'm pretty sure your sister knows."

"What!?" Ruby said facing her partner. "How?!"

"Well..." Blake slipped away as a flustered Weiss talked with her girlfriend.

 _The time for thinking was over, it was time for a confrontation._ Yang was hiding something. Blake knew it.

The Faunus opened the door to the hallway before looking back at the couple. They were good together. Blake decided as she watched the two squabble over something. Seeing the two of them together will be... interesting.

Blake rounded the corner toward her room and- OOF!

Quickly Blake picked herself up and saw that she ran into some scrawny looking man in a suit looking just like the other henchmen, the only difference being that this one carried no weapon.

"Sorry- I-I'm just in a rush a-an-and-" The said stuttering as he reached to gather the papers and files he dropped. He reminded her of Jaune. Except for... well. Worse.

"It's fine." Blake said, "Here I got it." She said surprising herself.

As she got down to pick up the papers her eyes caught on an object.

_A USB port._

"Just out of curiosity, where are you going in such a hurry?" Blake said, wondering if this could contain the file she was looking for.

"The security room." _There is a good chance that it is._ Blake knew she had to get this thing.

She had an idea.

She stood up and looked around at the tens and possibly even hundreds of papers. "Stand back, I'm going to try something." Before activating her semblance. Two shadow clones appeared and ran around quickly as possible gathering papers.

The man looked at them with amazement. Blake herself was surprised. She had never used her semblance for a practical use like that before. As the clones picked up the mess, Blake slowly slid the USB toward her with her foot and hid it, careful not to crush it.

The henchman didn't even appear to notice.

"Thanks..." He said walking off as the two shadow clones gave him his papers. The clones dissolved back into shadows immediately. 

After he left Blake bent down and picked up the memory unit. She debated heading back to the room to get her scroll but was too impatient.

She wanted to see it now. Wanted to see if it was the file she had been looking for.

Blake quickly retraced her steps back to the bar, where Weiss and Ruby still were. She tapped Weiss on the shoulder.

"I need to borrow your scroll." Blake said, very impatiently.

"Is it im-" Weiss began with her usual attitude.

"Yes."

Weiss rolled her eyes and handed Blake her scroll. "Don't lose it."

"I won't. Thanks." Blake said as she left the bar.

Plugging the USB in, she looked over its files. Or she should say, its one file.

The exact one she had been looking for.

* * *

"She took the USB port like you said, sir." The henchmen told Junior.

"That will be all then." Junior told him, dismissing him.

Junior sat back, sinking into his chair.

Now he would see how this would all play out. For a moment Junior considered making popcorn so he could truly enjoy the show. Or having one of his henchmen make him popcorn. That would be better. And easier.

He would finally get revenge on Blondie for all the things she'd done to him.

By showing the one closest to her how she betrayed her.


	7. Chapter 7

Without a moment to pause Blake opened the file bringing her to a camera selection screen. Quickly she selected the security camera of the bar.

She skipped forward to about the time when Teams JNPR and RWBY arrived. About seven in the afternoon.

Sure enough, the camera showed Blake how the henchmen in the bar went into a panicked lockdown, shutting the door and freaking out. Then she saw Yang force her way into the bar.

Blake sped up the footage. Teams RWBY and JNPR split up on the screen, separating all across the bar room in order to get drunk.

And they did.

Blake watched from an overhead view, all of the drunk Nora's antics and Pyrrha's apparent fascination of shots. She saw herself slowly devolve to a drunken fool, having glass after glass of wines and drinks.

Blake couldn't help but feel a bit proud. It took almost five drinks before she could even see the physical effects the drinks were taking on her.

Everyone seemed to be going fine. And everyone seemed to be having a fun time, whooping it up and drinking until they could drink no more.

Everyone except for Yang.

The blonde brawler barely drank any more than a glass or two, and for a majority of the night all she did was sit, isolated deeply entrenched in thought. It was something completely uncharacteristic of her. This whole thing has been her idea in the first place. Why did Yang seem so...

_...miserable?_

_What's up with her?_

Another hour or two of uneventful footage flew by before something eventful finally begun to happen and Blake played the footage in real time.

Everyone began heading to their rooms in groups of two. Jaune and Pyrrha left first, but not before being laughed at for comically falling on top of each other. 

The next group was Ruby and Weiss. They approached Yang for their keys when the blonde whispered something into Weiss' ear that appeared to leave the Ice Queen frozen in fear.

Yang got up from her stool after that and began heading across the bar before being intercepted by Nora and then Ren, who chased his girlfriend to the room afterwards, leaving only two members of Team RWBY in the bar.

When Yang finished crossing the room she stopped at where Blake sat.

They talked for a moment but Blake had no idea what the two of them said, the noise in the room being all the camera could pick up. The conversation continued as Yang began to move her back to the room, and Blake's drunken past self having to resort to leaning on Yang.

Thankfully, the hallways were much quieter, so Blake was finally able to pick up on the conversation. 

"Don't worry yourself gorgeous."

Blake could feel her face grow warm with embarrassment. Her drunken self had been flirting with Yang. She felt like she needed to slap herself for being so stupid.

"I should say the same to you."

Blake couldn't help but feel even more flustered at her partner's response. Why was Yang flirting back? She wasn't even drunk...

"You think I'm... gorgeous?"

"Let this answer your question." Blake nearly jumped as Yang pushed Blake through the open door, pinning her against the wall just on the inside of the room.

_What the fu-_

"You have no idea how much I like you. I'm not really sure how it started, or when, but it sure as hell happened. I can't help but think about you, all the time. I can't help but look at you in a lot of ways." Yang leaned in slowly and kissed the startled Blake.

"So yes. I guess you could say I think you're gorgeous." Yang finished pulling away.

"I guess you're pretty drunk, so you probably- you probably won't remember any of this, huh?" Yang said, her voice cracking and filled with sadness, as if she was close to tears.

 _No... wait. She **was** crying. _ Blake realized as she watched her past self wipe something off Yang's face. 

_Why was she crying? What... what was Yang planning on doing?_

"I just- I just wanted to keep you safe," Yang continued, only to be met with two pairs of raised eyebrows, from past and present Blake.

_What was she talking about?_

"What are you talking about?" The drunken Blake asked, still pinned to the wall but not seeming to mind it too much.

"I just wanted to keep you safe. That's why... I hope you can understand what I'm about to do." Yang kissed her once more.

"I hope you can understand _why_ I have to do this." Yang pulled away and released Blake from her space on the wall.

And then... Yang turned around, and left the room, the door shutting behind her.

_Wait... what? That's not exactly what I was expecting._

Blake's mind was moving a million miles a minute full of questions but devoid of any answers. _What exactly was going on? Keep her safe? What was she talking about? Had Yang gone insane?_

_That's why I hope you can understand what I'm about to do._

_What I'm about to do._ Yang's words rang through Blake's mind a few times before she could make sense of them. Something was about to happen. Something big. And whatever that something was... that was what was really the reason behind this whole thing. They weren't really here for some fun and drinking like Yang had claimed. There was something bigger happening here.

 _Where is she going?_ The rational side of Blake chimed in, reminding Yang that she was watching this entire thing unfold on her scroll.

Quickly Blake switched back to the bar camera where she found Yang coming from the hallway back into the main room. The blonde crossed the room and sat alone at an empty table. She looked tense, with a grim expression on her face. She had Ember Celica ready, as if she was expecting a fight.

She sat there alone unmoving for almost two hours. Then someone else walked into the bar. Or rather three people.

Blake gasped in shock.

_No... she wouldn't._

The three figures directly approached Yang's table, the man in the middle sat down opposite of Yang, the other two guarding him from both sides.

_His personal body guards._

Yang reached into her pocket and slid a small computer chip over to the man. He caught it on the table and picked it up to begin looking it over.

_What is that?_

"There's my end of of the bargain." Blake could barely hear Yang's voice from above the other noise in the room. "Now you better keep yours."

"I always honor my bargains." The man said, and even though he was facing away from the camera, Blake could hear the smirk on his face. "After all, I'm a man of honor."

 _Bullshit,_ Blake nearly spat out in anger.

"Good." Yang said as the man looked over the chip. "It's the real thing." She assured him. 

"It better, or else your friend is as good as dead." 

"Is that all?" Yang said impatiently, with a scowl on her face.

"I believe it is." The man said, before leaning to the right to whisper something into his bodyguard's ear. He was smiling.

_He always smiled when he thought he had won._

Blake watched as the men got up and left, leaving a sullen looking Yang sitting alone.

_I hope you can understand what I'm about to do._

She couldn't.

 

The footage cut off after that.

* * *

Yang was worried now.

Something was wrong. It had been two hours since Blake should have back.

_Where is he?_

A thought crossed Yang's mind but she quickly discarded.

 _Surely he wouldn't go back on his deal..._ She thought, but she could hardly be sure.

If he hurt Blake... she would never forgive herself.

Yang needed look for her. She needed to find her, to make sure she was okay.

She decided to bring along Ember Celica. Just in case.

* * *

What did she feel after seeing the video? 

_Angry. Betrayed. Hurt._

_And pissed._

She needed to know why in the world Yang would ever agree to make a deal with... him.

_What was she thinking?_

Blake stood up and slid Weiss's scroll in her pocket. She double checked to make sure she had Gambol Shroud on her back and started walking toward her room.

Time for her and Yang to have a chat.

* * *

She wasn't in the main room. When Yang had checked there, the only people in the room were Jaune and a bartender who was mumbling on about how a lot of people were drinking way to early in the morning.

Too busy for small talk, Yang just decided to ignore it and headed down the other end of the hall.

Weirdly enough, it was Blake who found her. 

Just after turning the corner to the next hall, she spotted Blake storming down the hall. Headed straight towards her.

"...Blake? Are you okay?"

Blake kept walking straight at her. She was too pissed to stop now.

"Blake?" Yang asked, quieter this time, almost whimpering.

Blake was about 10 feet away when she lashed out at Yang.

"I can't believe you. After all we've been through. After all that we've been through! How the fuck could you do this Yang!?" Blake screamed, sure the entire floor could hear her. She didn't care.

"Aww. Fuck."


	8. Chapter 8

"Aww. Fuck."

Two options surfaced in the mind of the panicked Yang. Fight or flight. Questions of how Blake could possibly find out swirled through Yang's brain, but those could wait. It was clear that Blake was pissed. She needed to diffuse the situation either right now, or turn tail and run. Considering how hard it was to reason to Blake about anything when she was upset, and she was  _far_ past upset now, Yang chose the latter.

Yang turned and ran, leaving her partner standing by herself, stunned, before she too surged forward chasing after Yang.

Yang turned the corner she had just come from, her mind frantically searching for a way to escape until she finally found one. She fiddled in her pocket for the key to the room until she found them.

"Yang!" Blake shouted, only a few steps behind her. She was right on her heels. There was no way to get into the room without her catching up.

Yang looked at the key in her hand, which were basically worthless to her now. She turned to look back, only to see a very angry Blake, no less than a few feet behind her.

 _Right, time for a plan B..._ Yang thought, the two of the rapidly approaching their room.  _If I don't have time to use the key and... well, it's pretty obvious what I can do._

Using the key as a distraction rather than what they were for intended to, Yang turned and hurled the item back at her pursuer, hitting Blake square in the face. It seemed to only make her madder.

 _Sorry Blake._ Yang thought, turning back to what was in front of her.

She busted the door open with one shot from Ember Celica, Breaking the lock in the process. The door flung open, allowing Yang to get into the room before the door bounced off the wall, quickly closing itself on Blake.

Blake was right behind her, pushing the door open with her left side so she could keep moving forward. She burst into the room, only to find it to be unoccupied.

 _The balcony._ Blake spotted the glass door wide open. She ran to the balcony. Yang wasn't there either.

It only took a moment of searching before Blake spotted someone with a flurry of long blonde hair running down the street. Without a second thought she leaped from the balcony into a back alley, being only two stories up, she had taken jumps much larger.

 

She chased down the street after Yang. The blonde took a right at an intersection. Yang's actions in the room had bought her some time- she was nearly thirty feet ahead of Blake now- but she was losing that ground fast, Blake being much faster than her. She needed to lose Blake now.

She took another left. Blake was closer now, maybe fifteen feet. Yang could hear her breathing getting louder and louder, but she was sure it wasn't because the perfectly in shape cat Faunus was losing her breath. Rather, it was because she was getting closer.

 _Right. Got to find a way to lose her._ She searched frantically, but all she saw were terrible ideas. A back alley that lead to a dead end. Fire escapes that lead up to isolated rooftops. 

 _Faster._ Yang reminded herself.  _Gotta run faster._ Her partner's footstep's were right behind her's now, echoing her own. Maybe eight feet, no more than ten...

 _Another back alley, up on the left._ Whatever she was gonna do, she had to do it now. No matter how stupid the idea seemed.

Praying for some sort of miracle, Yang turned a sharp left into the alley. The dead end alley.

A towering chain link fence topped with barbed wire stood in the way of Yang's escape. 

 _Shit!_ Yang turned back around, hoping to make a quick escape-

Only to come face to face with Blake, who stood at the end of the alley.

"What did you do?" Blake asked no-nonsense.

 _There really was no way out of this._ Yang thought, looking around like a scared animal, when her eyes landed on her two shotgun gauntlets.

 _I could..._ Yang looked up at the building next to her, made of brick and mortar. Strong, yes, but not strong enough to withstand the force of _these_.

"What. Did. You. Do?" 

 _Fuck it._ Yang thought, not caring about property damage. Instead, she surged forward a step and uppercut a wall. The result?

Hundreds of displaced brick collapsed from all around the spot the Yang had blasted a hole into. Creating a perfect separating barrier between the two of them. A stunned Blake just stood, stunned. It took a moment for her mind to process the complete stupidity of the situation. When she finally came back to reality, she had to now climb a new wall of rubbish that obscured her view of her partner behind it.

Once she overcame the rubbish, she found no Yang, only a small hole in the chain link fence where someone had tore it in half with brute force.

* * *

 

She honestly could not believe that worked. In any fashion. But as much as she would've liked to just think about how impossible the situation was, there were other things on Yang's mind.

Sooner or later, she was going to have to face Blake. She knew that. Unless she decided to leave Vale forever and attend some other academy in another one of the kingdoms. Which was starting to look like her best option now. She had heard Mistral was especially nice this time of year.

 _How did she find out?_ A moment in silence passed. _Junior is so going to pay for this._

The streets had started to become crowded, it being late enough in the morning that people were finally getting out and about. Which meant the crowds were the perfect place for Yang to hide while she thought and tried to avoid her very pissed off partner.

 _How much did Blake know? Probably only that I met with him._ Shivers ran down Yang's spine.  _God this looked bad._

 _...And she must have seen what I said to her, too. Which means that even if everything worked out perfectly and I got her to understand why I did everything that I did, things will never be able go back to how they used to be between us._ Yang nearly sobbed out loud.

_God, I am such an idiot._

She had royally screwed up this time.

Yang was so deeply entrenched in thought that she didn't even see the two people sneak up on her.

* * *

Blake began to cool off a little bit after Yang escaped. A little.

 _You at least owe me an explanation!_ Blake pouted before she began to think rationally. She needed to find Yang. But there were hundreds of places she could be. She might be on her way out of Vale right now. Right now, her best bet-

"Help! Help!" Screams sounded from a few roads away, belonging to the one and only-

"Yang!" The anger Blake had just held for the blonde was replaced with worry. Blake took off in a mad rush, following the scream. She knew exactly what had happened, which didn't exactly help her calm down.  _It was him. There was no doubt about that._

 She made her way to where she thought she had heard the scream. The street was completely empty. As if the crowds that usually filled them had just disappeared.

 _Where was she?_ Blake searched all over in a blind panic.

That's when she heard the muffled screams. They were Yang's. Coming from the rooftop.

Blake reached the top of the building in record time, scaling the fire escape three steps at a time. The rooftop was dark, on the shade of a much taller building that was right next to it.

As she reached the rooftop, there was only one thought that entered her mind.

 _Yang._ She was lying on the rooftop. Splatters of blood were scattered across the roof. Cuts were littered across Yang's jacket.

She wasn't moving.

"Yang!" Blake cried out, too worried about her partner to even think about her own safety. "Are you okay?" She rolled her partner's over. She didn't look to good, but she was alive. She began wheezing immediately as Blake turned her over.

"It's going to be okay." She said. "You're going to be okay."

Yang tried to talk. Key word: tried. Her voice came out hoarse, almost in as weak a state as Yang herself was. "I'm so-" She began, before she burst out wheezing, gasping for air.

"It's okay. It's okay." Blake repeated, she could feel her eyes watering. No, she was crying, the tears that dropped from her face onto Yang showed that. This was her fault. No matter how much she wanted to blame Yang... she had just been trying to protect her... Blake knew this would happen. Of course he would follow her. What else was she to expect? That he'd just allow her to abandon him?

"Blake-" 

"We have to get you to the hospital." The Faunus cut her off this time, choking on her own tears.

Yang looked at Blake, her own eyes full of tears. "No... Blake." She croaked out. "I'm sorry."

"I already forgave you." Blake said, not understanding. Until she heard the footstep behind her and it hit her. 

Metaphorically and literally. 

A bash to the head threw Blake to the side, throwing her to the ground.

"She's sorry, about us." The attacker said through a smile.


	9. Chapter 9

" _Adam,"_ The name fell flat from her lips, full of hatred and loathing.

Blake looked up at the man she had once thought to be her friend. He just stood there smiling, unresponsive. Elite Faunus from the White Fang flanked both of his sides.

 _Three against two._ Blake thought, analyzing the situation.  _I could probably take both of the guards at once but Yang's..._ She quickly glanced to the right at her partner.Her heart fell flat. Yang's eyes burned red in anger. If someone attacked now, Yang would undoubtedly jump right into the fight. _Yang's in no condition to fight right now._ If she ended up fighting Adam one on one like this...

...the results would be less than stellar.

 _So buy time._ She needed to stall. Every second would help Yang's aura to recover, but she needed all the time she could get.

Thankfully, she knew her adversary well. Too well. She knew exactly how he reacted in situations like this. When his enemy was beneath him, crushed- powerless- he typically liked to do a bit of showing off before he finished them off. 

"The deal," She said, her voice surprising steady. She had expected her voice to be as weak as Yang's own. "What was this all about?"

There was no response on his part as Adam slowly walked toward her. Without warning he struck, winding up and delivering a powerful kick to the ribs.

Blake wheezed as she heard an audible crack. Adam grabbed her by the arm, lifting her up to stand.

"Blake  _sweetheart,_ " He used the cute pet name, but his voice was full of no kindness. "Is that any to greet a friend?" 

Before she knew it, she was on the ground, recovering from a slap across the face. Adam slowly backed away from her, an angry scowl on his face. Beside her on the ground, Yang attempted to get up, clearly angry, but it was impossible for the battered girl. Before she could get her feet beneath her she fell back onto the roof.

 _More time._ Blake reminded herself.  _Need more time._

Blake herself could stand fine, but she could feel something wrong with her ribs. Definitely bruised, maybe broken. That wasn't a big problem. She could fight with a broken rib if she had to. She just needed to find a way to buy more time. "Tell me what you two made a deal for- before I kill you all!"

It was an empty threat. Every single person on the rooftop was well aware that Blake was in no position to kill the three of them alone. Yang and her were completely at Adam's mercy- which, unfortunately for them, was not something he was known for. 

"You're hardly in the position to deliver threats, _Blake._ "  He said her name with such anger, such _disgust,_ that Blake felt the sudden urge to run, far far away. To hide from him so he would never find him.

But she had already done that, and even that hadn't been enough. Because here they were, standing face to face.

He'd finally found her.

"I have to admit Blake, you made it _especially_ hard for us to find you." Adam said, the sarcasm evident in his statement. "I mean, honestly Belladonna, the least you could do was change your name, maybe go off the radar for a few years. Instead, you chose to attend one of the most prestigious academies in all of the four kingdoms. I thought I had taught you better, Blake. I can't help but feel a bit disappointed. You know, I'm starting to think that maybe you wanted us to find you."

He laughed, and Blake said nothing, only glaring. She said nothing, knowing that this was exactly what she needed. Adam going on a tangent would buy Yang some time to recover.

"Did you do all of this on purpose? Did you do this all to bring in more people to _help_ you, to _protect_ you? To take us down? Cause that's what you've been busy doing, huh? Attacking White Fang shipments, infiltrating meetings." Blake bit her lip tight, not liking where he was going with this. 

"So that's what you've been doing? Using them? Exploiting their good natures? Not caring who takes the bullets for you, who gets hurt in your place?" Adam looked at Yang pointedly. He knew he had struck a nerve from the look on Blake's face. "You can pretend all you want that you're better than us all- better than the White Fang- above us- above the violence, but the sad truth is that you're no better than us, you're no better than-"

 _"Shut up!"_ Blake yelled. She could feel tears coming on again. She knew he was right. She should never have brought any of them into this fight. This was her fight. Just looking at Yang reminded her of all that. It was her fault Yang was lying here. It was her thought the two of them were here, trapped, most likely going to die.

It was  _all_ her fault. Her eyes stuck to the ground beneath her.

"Oh come on, that all you got? You hear me say the truth and you just fall apart?" He chuckled. "You're a lot weaker than when I last saw you. You're pathetic. Maybe Beacon spoiled you too much, huh? You've become that girl- that friend of yours- Weiss was it? A spoiled, soft, brat." 

Blake's head turned wildly upward to face Adam.

"Oh yeah, I know about her. Weiss Schnee, the one and only. I can't believe how easily you could turn your back on your own kind so you could butter up to that racist _filth_." Blake continued glaring at Adam, blinking the tears away.

"And that other one as well. Ruby. right? Only fifteen years old." Adam shook his head. "Only fifteen years old, and you pulled her into this. Pity. She could've had such a long life too." Blake's eyes widened.

"What, you're surprised? You knew this would happen. You brought her into this. This is your fault. I just thought I'd let you know so when we kill you, you can know that it was you, Blake, who sentenced a fifteen year old to death."

"Leave them out of this!" Blake begged. Even knowing Yang was in this situation because of her was too much for her. If Ruby and Weiss had to go through the same torment...

_She could never forgive herself._

"Oh no... they're a liability. They have to be dealt with. They might start getting too curious, asking too many questions. Better to deal with them now." Adam squatted down next to Blake and began talking quieter. "I think I'm going to enjoy working with your leader. Such a young and optimistic little one. Ha. When you're young like that, you feel like you're on the top of the world. Nothing can get to you, you think you're invincible. But you're not. You're mortal just like the rest of us. Which is why I'm going to enjoy making her realize that. The shock on someone's face when they realize the cold hard truth, that they are about to die?" Adam leaned in even closer, maybe a hair away from Blake now.

"Well, there's nothing quite like it."

A sudden, drastic change in temperature pulled Blake away from Adam's monologue. The air around her had spiked up maybe ten degrees, Even Adam's bodyguards seemed to notice it too, the two of them jumping at the sudden heat wave. Adam was the only one that appeared unfazed as he pulled back and stood up.

 _Yang._ Blake knew the blonde was responsible for this. She may have been curled up in a fetal, her back to everyone, but she was undoubtedly the source of the heat, her rage fueling her semblance. A sudden surge of hope rose up in Blake's mind.

_Which meant that with just a little more stalling... Yang would be raring to go._

"Just tell me," Blake said, staring at the ground before her, not daring to look up. "What was this all about? Me?"

"Not quite," Adam admitted. "As important as you may think you are, Blake, there are more... urgent matters. I guess you could say this all just... fell into place."

"So what's this all about then?"

Adam sighed. "What's the rush? Are you really so urgent for your own death? Because as soon as I'm done talking, you're going to die. And you know that."

"Tell me."

"Fine. Once you abandoned us, Belladonna, our leaders were not too pleased to learn you had left. They ordered me after you. They blamed me for your escape. After two months of searching, the White Fang confirmed my suspicions that you had joined the hunters and huntresses at Beacon, after all, you did cross quite a ruckus for us that night. However that left me in quite the predicament. You were part of one of the most heavily guarded places in all of the four Kingdoms. A place where  _every_ single person in the building had extensive combat training. As much fun I would have had destroying them all to get to you, it was  _too risky,_ as the higher ups described it."

"Instead I was given a new assignment. To gather data of Beacon's defense systems and students. I had no idea why my superiors wanted anything to do with the place, but any mission that could get me close enough to finish off my old traitorous partner, I was on board with. Then things took an... unexpected turn. I was able to infiltrate Beacon and forge a note from your headmaster which ordered you to show up at a specified location to give important info on the White Fang."

"I knew that when you found it you would come to me alone. But what I wasn't expecting was your friend here to find it." Adam looked down at Yang.

"She came alone and walked straight into an ambush. She knew I was going to try and kill you... so she offered me a deal. Leave you alone, and she'd do whatever I needed to do. Which was the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. It turns out, it is a lot easier for a student to break into Beacon's security system to steal files than an outsider. Partly because the student is already inside the building. In exchange for her getting the data my superiors needed, I promised not to lay a finger on you... and I didn't... until  _after_ I got what I needed. Which, as of now, I have sent safely on the way to my superiors."

Blake felt her heart drop. If the chip was already on the way to the leaders of the White Fang... that was bad.

_All this because of me._

_Focus on the chip later,_ Blake thought. _I just need to worry about getting us through this first._

"So I guess we're done here," He smiled before his face went completely blank and he turned to the guard on his left. "Kill them."

The two White Fang operatives charged forward and Blake drew Gambol Shroud from it's sheath her katana and sheath in each hand prepared to take on the two attackers at once when they reached her. Yet it was Yang who met the two of them in combat, and not her.

Screaming at the top of her lungs, the blonde charged forward, her semblance activating in a red-white flame, burning bright.

Caught off their guard, Yang was able to knocked back both of the attackers in two punches.

"Hey asshole!" Yang yelled, clearly pissed. "What are you, afraid? Can't take on a seventeen year old year old girl without two guards by your side?"

Adam's eyes narrowed. "You two get the traitor," Adam ordered. "I'll deal with the _hero_." The White Fang behind him nodded and charged back into battle, their focus now on Blake.

Blake watched as Yang charged into battle alone against Adam, Ember Celica raised. She wouldn't be able to take him alone, that much was evident. She knew what Adam was capable. What she needed to do was deal with the other two as fast as possible so she could help Yang.

Blake turned her attention to the two operatives charging back into battle, weapons in hand.

"Let's do this." Blake crouched down right before the two attacked. The one on the left was the first one to strike.

Blake deflected one of his daggers as the first one attacked, using her sheath. The other one struck next, swinging a sword down at her, only to have Blake block that with her katana and plant a kick on the swordsman's thigh, throwing him backwards. She couldn't quite avoid the stab from the first attacker, whose second dagger glanced off her side, drawing blood.

Pain flared down Blake's side, but she fought on, slicing at the attacker with her katana. The dagger-wielding Faunus weaved his way away from the attack, narrowing dodging Blake's swing. What he wasn't able to avoid was the follow up attack of Blake's sheath, hitting him at the top of his leg and sending him down. She turned her focus to the swordsman Faunus once more, able to take her attention off the other one for a few moments. 

She hadn't expected him to be mid charge running back at her. She barely had time to create a shadow clone to absorb the hit before he swung down on her. Even after that, she was forced to back step more, the attack engaging her in a flurry of attacks that she could only hope to dodge. She was forced to go on the defensive once she figured out that she was running out of rooftop, barely three more steps from falling to her death.

Blake blocked a downswing strike with her sheath and followed it up with a cut across the Faunus' chest, slicing through his shirt and drawing blood. The Faunus growled angry and with the hand that wasn't holding his sword, he punched Blake back.

The cat Faunus stumbled back a few feet, recovering from the punch. Unfortunately, it was a few feet that Blake didn't have. Her last step back with her right foot was met with nothing but air. She fell back and off the roof, only catching the edge of the roof before falling to her demise.

 _Shit._ Blake thought as her sheath fell to the ground below, leaving her with just her katana. She looked back at her attacker, who was approaching her to finish her off. Blake quickly swapped Gambol Shroud to pistol form in one hand as she held on with the other. Blake shot at the guard with the pistol, only to have her shots blocked by his sword as he slowly walked to her. 

Knowing the shots were doing nothing, Blake decided to try something else. She threw her weapon at her attacker's leg, the pistol curling around it and tightening the attached rope around his ankle.

"What the fuck?" The Faunus said, lifting his leg to see what it was. Blake took that opportunity to yank the ribbon on her end, toppling the attacker right over her down the edge of the roof. The pistol disconnected from his leg, leaving Blake with the weapon dangling at the edge of the rope.

Yang herself was in a even more intense fight with Adam, and even with her strong start, it wasn't fairing to well. He seemed to slip away right when Yang thought she had him, only to end up behind her leaving Yang open. She had collected a new batch of cuts and wounds across her body, adding to her already many from beforehand. Adam on the other hand had only taken a few glancing hits from her. The shots that did manage to hit him were usually blocked by his sword, Wilt.

But Yang still fought on with a strong intensity, the fire from earlier still burning in his eyes. If anything, she was getting closer, more of her shots were landing, grazing Adam's sides and body. Thanks to her semblance, the more pain she took, the stronger she could dish it out, and she had taken a lot of hurt these past hours.

Blake pulled herself up off the ledge and took Gambol Shroud back into katana form just in time before the second attacker was on her. She narrowly dodged two slices, ducking and moving underneath them, switching sides so her opponent instead was the one with his back to the edge.

She blocked a side wards swing of one of his daggers with her katana, but lacking her sheath, it left her open. A stab from the other dagger cut her across the chest as she tried to back away.

Blake involuntarily hissed in reflex to the pain. Angrily, she struck back with her katana, only to have her attacked glance off a dagger. Another stab came toward her, but this time she was ready. With her empty hand, usually reserved for holding her sheath, she struck down on the Faunus' wrist, forcing him to drop the dagger.

Once the weapon hit the ground she kicked it hard, sending it flying off the roof. With only one dagger the attacker was at a disadvantage.

Blake went on the attack, swinging over and over again, forcing the Faunus to move back as he deflected strikes with his one dagger. When he was a step away from the roof, she transferred Gambol Shroud back to pistol form and hit the ground, sweeping the guard's legs out from underneath him. He hit the rooftop as Blake got back up and aimed her pistol at his body, planting a shot in his head and chest, effectively eliminating the other guard.

 _Yang._ Her thoughts immediately went to her partner. She looked around searching for the blonde who was still engaged in her combat with Adam.

 _Two against one._ Blake thought, knowing the odds meant nothing against someone like Adam. A skilled combatant such as him could easily separate them and take them down one at a time. Blake began to charge toward the two of them.

In a few seconds, everything changed. Adam spotted Blake running towards him and quickly disengaged combat with Yang, kicking the blonde and pushing her away.

And then he disappeared.

And then it hit her. Again. Before she could pause herself, Blake had a blade to her throat.

"You've gotten better at that." Blake gasped under the cold metal of the blade freezing against her throat.

"I've been practicing." He pushed the blade tighter to her throat before looking at Yang. The blonde was frozen in combat stance, unsure what to do. "Any last words to your _sweetheart?_ " He asked, the sarcasm in his statement scathing.

"Yeah." Yang voice came out raspy as she downright ignored the sarcasm. "Blake. How long did you say you worked with this guy?" The blonde said before pulling out of her stance, casually asking the question as if Blake didn't have a deadly weapon to her throat.

Blake wasn't sure who was more confused, Adam or herself. "What?" She spit out, confused.

"I hardly think that matters right now." Adam said, eyes narrow as if he was suspecting her to pull something.

"Oh it's nothing," Yang said, casually talking. "It's just that he's a real jerk. How the hell did you deal with him as long as you did?"

"Yang what the hell are you-"

"He's like a rose thorn in the behind, you know?" Yang ignored Blake as she continued casually chatting.

"That's it?" Adam rasped out, still confused. Though Blake's eyes instead opened in understanding, realizing what Yang was doing.  "You're finally words to her are an insult to me?"

"Nope," She replied. "These are." Yang stuck her hand into her pocket.

"Hey asshole- catch."

With all the might she could muster she threw the object. He caught it easily.

"What you expect to stun me with a scroll?"

"Actually it's something a little more than a scroll," Yang answered, "I don't know what you call it, but typically, I call it a bullet."

It was then that Adam finally seemed to get it, but it was too late. Yang fell down to the ground while Blake used the momentary distraction to break free of Adam's grip and also hit the deck. The shot went off a split second later.

The sniper shot hit Adam through the chest, spurting blood everywhere as Adam quickly faded away.

 


	10. Epilogue

_We're alive._

No matter how many times she repeated it, the thought just didn't seem to want to sink into Blake's head. She thought she was a goner up there. She thought she and Yang were doomed.

Gambol Shroud sat on her back, in her recovered sheath. Blake and Yang sat alone wrapped in the blankets the police had provided for treatment for shock. The two of them had refused to go to the hospital yet. They both knew they had to talk about some things first.

"What happened... there, at the end?" Yang asked, her voice missing the usually energetic feel. Blake didn't say anything for a moment. "He's not dead, is he?"

Blake sighed before answering. "No... he's not."

"So... what was that? That... thing that happened."

"Shadow travel."

"Excuse me?"

"Just a stupid name I made for Adam's semblance... he can move through shadows. Control them." Blake explained. "Sorry... I'm a little out of it."

"Yeah... that's to be expected," Yang acknowledged sympathetically. "We're probably both in shock from blood loss."

"...yeah."

Silence. The of them sat awkwardly, not wanting to consult any of the many elephants in the room. 

"Good idea back there," Blake said.

"It was okay."

"You saved our skins."

"It was Ruby."

"Well, Ruby wouldn't have known we were in danger if you hadn't texted her."

"Mmm-hmm." Yang hummed.

"I don't even know how you got that scroll off me," Blake admitted.

Yang wiggled her fingers. "Magic."

"Slight of hand and theft, more like."

"Like you've never stolen anything."

"True," Blake admitted, letting herself relax. It was over, for now at least. She didn't need to be so on edge. She leaned on Yang's shoulder, tired. "But I guess I owe Weiss another scroll now, huh?"

"Lucky you." 

A momentary pause. Yang knew they would be here all night if they continued to dance around the things they needed to talk about, so she decided she might as well dive right in and get it over with.

"I'm sorry about all of this. I should've told you... I never should've thought he would've kept his end of the deal anyway. I'm so stupid... and-" Yang's voice choked up. "-and I completely understand if you hate me for it-"

When Blake burst into laughter on Yang's shoulder, it was completely unexpected on the blonde's behalf.

"Did I say something funny?" Yang asked, confused.

"As a matter of fact, you did," Blake responded and looked up at Yang. "You risked your life for me. You put everything on the line to help me. If it's anyone who should be hating anyone,  _you_ should be hating  _me._ "

"What are you talking about?" Yang asked, but the only answered she received was a sad sigh. When she looked down, Blake was looking, teary eyed, into the distance. "Hey hey hey," Yang put an arm around Blake and held her tight. "It's gonna be okay. We'll get him, okay?"

"I'm sorry.... I shouldn't ever have pulled you or Ruby into this. Or Weiss." Blake was close to tears. "You guys are all in serious danger because of me."

Yang sighed. "You really took some of the stuff he said to heart, didn't you?"

"He may be a liar, a thief, and a murderer... along with many other things... but so am I. I'm not as innocent as I like to think I am." 

Yang had no idea what to say. She had no clue as to how to fix the depressed look on Blake's face. So she tried the one thing that she thought might work.

Blake nearly recoiled when she felt herself being closer to Yang, until she realized what the blonde was doing.

"I don't think a hug, is just gonna fix everything, Yang," Blake said, but still the Faunus didn't pull away.

"I know, but it might make you feel better." Yang said. The two of them stayed that way for a few moments before pulling apart.

"...thanks." Blake said quietly. 

"Yang!" A voice shouted from behind them. The fifteen year old the voice belonged to came up behind her sister, almost tackling the blonde. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Ruby said, aggressively holding her sister. Blake watched the two of them for a moment, seeing the special bond between the two sisters. Blake felt more guilt rush back to the forefront of her head.

"Hey," A much calmer someone greeted her. "You okay?" Weiss asked, talking to Blake.

"Yeah... yeah I'm fine." Blake responded, still looking at the sisters.

Yang and Ruby seemed to just recognize that Blake and Weiss were there.

"What happened?" Ruby asked. "One moment we're all hanging out at Junior's, the next, you two are in a near-death experience?!"

 _Junior_. Yang made a mental note in her head that she needed to beat the crap out of the bar owner for back stabbing her. "I guess we're just lucky we have a decent sniper on our team." Yang teased her sister.

Ruby gasped. "Decent? I'm a _great_ sniper!" Yang only smiled and ruffled her little sister's hair.

"Why aren't you two on your way to the hospital?" Weiss demanded, Yang and Blake both turning to her.

"Oh calm down, Ice Queen." Yang said, smiling. "I feel great."

"Well, you certainly don't look great." Weiss said, looking Yang over. "You've both lost way too much blood. I'm going to call an ambulance for you both."

Yang looked down at herself, at her cut up clothes that she was  _positive_ were at one point a color different than dark red.

"Where's my scroll?" Weiss asked Blake.

Blake scratched the back of their heads awkwardly. 

"Unbelievable." 

"I owe you a scroll." Blake said. "Your old one was sacrificed for dramatic effect."

"It was a distraction-" Yang corrected, only to be cut off by Weiss.

"Don't worry about it." Weiss said. "My family has enough money that I could probably buy the company that produces the scrolls."

"Thanks."

"Your welcome. But I'm still going to call an ambulance for you two," Weiss said, beginning to walk away. "Stay right here." She told Blake and Yang.

"I'll be right back," Ruby promised her sister, opting to go with her girlfriend.

Yang watched the two of them go. "Classic Ice Queen."

"She means well," Blake said.

"She's probably right about the ambulance thing," Yang admitted. "I actually do feel kind of dizzy."

Blake rolled her eyes and smiled. The two of them sat in silence once more, but unlike the previous silences, this one was more comforting than awkward.

Unfortunately, they still had more they needed to discuss.

"So... they have the chip."

"Yep."

"And we have no idea what they plan on using that for."

"Yep."

"Aren't you worried about that?"

"Honestly, that thing is the least of my worries," Blake admitted. "I'm more concerned about Adam."

"Blake-"

"He's out there somewhere, Yang,"  Blake began, ignoring her partner. "When he recovers, we'll be his number one focus. We'll be in danger. And so will Weiss, and Ruby."

"You can't worry about that," Yang said, trying to get her partner's attention. "We have at least a month or two before he strikes again, right? He's not careless, so it'll be a while before we see him again. Can't you just take it easy until then?"

"Yang, we made it out by the skin of our teeth this time. If we have to-"

"Blake."

"-fight him again, he'll be more prepared. He'll be ready. He'll-"

"Blake."

"-have a better plan than he did this time. We need-"

 **"Blake."** Yang firmly said, trying hard to get her attention. "We can worry about this later, okay?"

"But-"

"Blake."

"Yeah... you're right," Blake admitted. "I'm just gonna tear myself apart doing this again."

 

"Thank you."

 _Just one more thing._ Yang thought, though it was the one topic she was dreading the most.

"So..." Yang hung her head, knowing what was coming.

"...you really did all that for me?" Blake asked very quietly, looking at the ground so Yang couldn't see her blush.

Yang raised her eyebrows questioningly, not expecting Blake to have phrased it like that. It took a minute for Yang to muster up to courage to finally talk.

"Yeah... I did." Yang said, planning on ending it there, but for some reason she didn't, the words coming out of her mouth without her even thinking about it. "And the thing is, I don't regret it. I don't know why, but I don't regret betraying Beacon. And I don't regret nearly losing my life for someone I care about."

Blake hesitated not sure what to say. "You... care about me?"

Yang sighed again. "Yeah I do Blake. I _love_ you. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Yeah I did. I just... wanted to hear you say it, and not some security camera."

Heat rose to Yang's cheeks. "Right... yeah. That."

"I've... I've never had someone ever do something like that for me."

"What?" Yang asked, not sure she had heard Blake right.

"You... you risked everything for me. You put your own life at risk..."

Yang stopped breathing for a second. Her heart pounded faster. She could kind of see where this was going, and she was really hoping that was the case.

"I guess what I'm saying is... a person like you, who risked your life for  _me..._  who really cares about me, you're the kind of person I want to be with."

"What?" Yang said, speechless.

Blake only rolled her eyes. She leaned to Yang and kissed her.

For a whole moment, Yang felt her world melt away, she could think of nothing but the girl in front of her. Adam, the chip- they were all completely gone from her mind. Even after Blake pulled away, yang was still left speechless and unsure.

"I love you too, Yang."

"..." Yang felt like she just lost another pint of blood. "You are the best."

"I know." Blake said, smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... done! I just went over the entirety of a Messy Night and edited it all, changing some key plot points and such. Which means now I get to edit the next one.


End file.
